Chris Bogh, the Technical Director of eploy® provides an insight into Building Talent Pools and why they can help lower your overall cost and contribute to business continuity and growth.

Recruiting the best talent for a specific role is the overriding objective for any recruiting organisation, but how do you find and attract that talent when you really need it?

Ideally, you would advertise a role and the perfect candidate would already be actively job seeking, see your advert and apply. However, this is rarely the case and the fact remains that the selection of candidates who do apply at that specific time may not include that 'one' perfect candidate. In the same way, when the perfect candidate does decide to switch jobs, you may not have any suitable vacancies either.

It is for these reasons why building and maintaining your own talent pool is so important and can provide you with a significant competitive advantage. Your talent pool is a vital resource for you to dip into, and selecting candidates from your own talent pool has many obvious benefits. Of course, if the ideal candidate is already in your talent pool this will reduce your advertising costs, but more importantly, the reduced time to hire ensures you don't lose competitive advantage.

With such an abundance of skilled candidates currently on the market, now is an opportune time to start implementing systems that will enable you to build a talent pool. In the current economic climate, you are probably already experiencing a significantly higher number of applications than in previous years. However, the problem with receiving so many applications is that quality candidates can so easily get overlooked. This is where specialist recruitment / applicant tracking software such as eploy® can help. The software will automatically pre-screen and sort candidates' CV data, and import key information such as skills, experience, and salary expectations etc. enabling your consultants to simply review. Importantly, it will also help you make informed decisions by providing you with the information you need to quickly evaluate the skill set of your applications and relevance for the role.

Inevitably many of the applicants will not be suitable for your current role but may well be suitable for future requirements, so it is important not to let them turn into missed opportunities. Another consultant in your organisation could even be looking for your candidate right now. This is where the true value of a centralised talent pool becomes apparent.

By searching your existing talent pool for previous applicants, you may quickly identify an ideal candidate before you have even advertised your new role. Furthermore, you know that candidates found in your talent pool are already interested in this type of role and may well be pre-qualified from previous applications. To help this decision-making process, the recruitment software will enable you to see a complete history of applications, notes made by you or other consultants, interviews attended and even results of psychometric tests or assessment centres.

It is also important to note that passive candidates who have sent you their CV because they have simply had a bad day at their current job often turn out to be the best talent in the market, and once they are in your talent pool you can effectively market your company for future positions. They may not be completely serious about moving jobs today, but could be more than willing when they receive notification of a future opportunity.

Therefore, once you have taken the decision to build a talent pool, it is essential that you do not let it stagnate - you must implement communication procedures that enable you to maintain contact with your talent pool. This can now easily be realised, without enduring any arduous admin heavy tasks. Advancements made in recruitment software mean that communications can now be completely automated and configured to send out emails or SMS to your global talent pool. These communications can be used to make sure they are still happy to stay in your talent pool and to invite them to log on to your career portal to update their details. This also helps to ensure you adhere to data protection policies.

Ultimately, by successfully building and maintaining your own exclusive talent pool you can reduce your need for advertising, lessen your cost per hire, and shorten your recruitment timelines. All significant benefits that can help maintain business continuity and growth.

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